And how does one *not* freak out about such things?

You might recall that my lovely boy had hives a few weeks ago, and the doctor cultured his throat just to be on the safe side. He always takes these things well, but they called the following day to say that the lab couldn’t process the test because it was expired. Sigh. Back to the doctor yet again for a new culture. Anyway, that test revealed yucky things. I found out today that in addition to strep, he had strep pneumonia AND staph in there. And not just any staph, either. You know how you hear about people getting staph infections in hospitals and dying? Yeah. It’s that kind. The doctor cautioned me not to look it up online, lest it scare the living shit out of me. So I haven’t. Yet.

Of course, you would never have known to look at him that these insidious little bugs were living in his throat, other than the hives, which they think were related to the infection. He did a course of antibiotics and seems well and has more energy than ever. And the doctor said that a lot of people have this staph on their skin and nothing can be done about it. But jeez. How many bacteria can one little kid incubate? We went back in today for another culture, our doctor consulted an ENT specialist, and everyone decided that N needs antibiotic cream applied in his nose for a week. Which he just adores, by the way. Gah. And if the culture comes back normal, then we’re out of the woods. But if he happens to sprout a rash or has a cut that doesn’t heal, he needs to be seen immediately.

What’s next? Honestly, I expect flesh-eating bacteria to ring the doorbell any minute. Well, if we had a doorbell…

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3 comments

N, keep your germs to yourself! I have a sore throat now…oh, and did I mention Kenny has poison ivy from helping Ken load wood last weekend? All over his forearms and it’s driving him nuts. He didn’t believe I was doing everything in my power to help him (oatmeal baths, hydrocortizone cream, Benadryl), until he looked it up himself. Aye!

Hey, I don’t know if you have a compounding pharmacy anywhere near you, but we do, and they make this lovely little concoction called summer gel. Sean gets poison ivy so badly you wouldn’t believe it. The summer gel is the only thing that really helps him. Anyway, it might be worth asking.